For those of you arriving here for the
first time, please check out the previous post Spoiling Action AtVitebsk - Part 1 for the AAR of the first part of the game. Part 1
will get you up to speed and provide the lead in to this Part 2.
Picking up where we left off at the end
of Phase 25. Russian Force Morale = 8, German = 9.
Phase 26 – Russian roll:
5,5,5,2,1 CoC Dice = 3
Next phase is German. Kap. Muellerov
uses the 1 to activate the 45mm AT Gun to fire on Wagner's PzIV for
the big side shot. He gets some solid hits! However, the PzIVs
armour roll is hot so it survives, just causing a net 1 effect with
only 1 shock and a gunner panic. Whew! Wagner was sweating bullets
over that one. After that, the 2 is used to have Myshkin's south
squad fire at Hirsch's German squad in the crop causing 1 casualty on
the Rifle Team, missing Hirsch. (no photo)
Phase 27 – German Roll
6,6,4,3,1 CoC Dice = 5
Next phase is German! A bonus! Hptm.
Lowellinski uses a 1 to activate the F.O. to try and contact the
battery, but no contact is possible this phase. The 4 is used to
activate Jaeger's Command PzIV. Jaeger spends 1 CI to radio Wagner's
shocked PzIV for him to order his driver to move behind the building,
which he does with a big sigh of relief! Jaeger uses the second CI
to radio Eichmann's PzIII for him to order his gunner to fire his MG
at Myshkin's squad behind the hedge, causing 2 shock. The third CI
is not used. The 3 is used to activate Hirsch's squad in the crop to
also fire at Myshkin's squad at the hedge causing 1 shock and 2
casualties, missing Szt. Myshkin. End Phase.
Phase 28 – German Roll
5,3,2,1,1 CoC Dice = 6 Full!
Next phase is Russian. Lowellinski
uses a 1 to have the F.O. attempt to contact the battery. No luck
for the rest of this Game Turn! He uses a 3 to activate Eichmann's
PzIII to order his gunner to fire the coaxial MG at Myshkin's squad
again, causing 1 casualty and 1 shock, finally pinning the squad!
Seeing this, Lowellinski uses the 2 + 1 to activate Hirsch's squad in
the crop to move At The Double into Close Combat with Myshkin's
squad! The Germans easily win the Close Combat because the Russians
are pinned, but also inflict enough additional shock and KIAs that
Myshkin's squad breaks, routing off the table and taking Myshkin with
them. The Bad Things Happen Table rolls for both the squad and Szt.
Myshkin routing off the table cause the Russian Force Morale to drop
by a whopping 3 down to 5! The German squad gets off light with 2
casualties and 2 shock. [Error: we forgot to
add a shock to each German Team for moving At The Double but one less
German die would still have caused the same Close Combat result]
End phase.
Phase 29 – Russian Roll
6,5,4,1,1 CoC Dice = 4
Next phase is German. Kap. Muellerov
uses a 4 to activate Lt. Vasilyev and with 1 CI he orders Pashin's
squad to fire on Ritter's Rifle Team at the stone wall, causing a
shock and a casualty and finally causing it to break, taking Ritter
along as well! The Rifle Team and Ritter retreat back into the woods
out of LOS. The Germans roll on the Bad Things Happen Table and lose
one Force Morale point, now at 8. Lt. Vasilyev uses a second CI to
put the AT Gun on Overwatch. Then Muellerov adds the 1 + 1 to
activate Szt. Denisov's squad on the north hill. They notice Obgfr.
Braun's squad in the crop backed up with Wagner's PzIV and decide to
withdraw back behind the hill and over the road.
Phase 30 – German Roll
6,5,5,4,3 CoC Dice = 6 + 2
Next phase is Russian. Hptm.
Lowellinski sees Obgfr. Ritter and his broken Rifle Team and wants to
get the shock reduced on it before the Game Turn ends, so he uses a 4
to deploy Lt. Klein, his second Senior Leader (SL), in the woods
nearby, attached to Ritter's one-man Rifle Team. Then Lt. Klein uses
2 CI to take 2 shock off Ritter's Rifle Team and the third CI to
activate Braun's squad in the crop to make a Tactical Move into the
crop ahead.
Lowellinski then uses the 3 to activate
Hirsch's squad in the south to move over the hedge toward the tasty
Russian JOP. End Phase.
Phase 31 – Russian Roll
3,3,3,2,1 CoC Dice = 4
Next phase is German. Muellerov adds a
3 + 1 to activate Lt. Vasilyev who spends a CI to have Pashin's squad
fire on Fiedler's German Rifle Team in the south woods but they miss.
Then he uses a 3 to order Szt. Denisov's squad in the north to move
At The Double toward the centre hill, picking up a shock. Jaeger's
PzIV does not Overwatch Fire on Denisov's squad since he is waiting
to see what Szt. Torchinovich's T-43 will do. With the last 3
Muellerov activates Torchinovich's T-43 who orders his driver to
carefully reverse behind the wooden building, all the time staying
behind the abandoned T-34 and out of LOS of Jaeger's PzIV. End
phase.
Again we ran out of time for our
evening game session so had to mothball the game until our next
gaming night. Here is how the table looks at the end of Phase 31.
This session we played 17 phases in
2-1/2 hours so we are improving. On with the "cat cover"
and siesta time for the little guys. With the variable ending
beginning after Phase 36 there should only be about 8 phases left on
average if the game goes to 40 phases, but it could be as low as 4
phases left. Now Russian FM = 5 and German = 8.
Back again to finish off the game!
Hautmanns Lowellinski and Pollockstein on the German side gang up on
Kapitan Muellerov of the Russians, hoping for a quick German win
before the impending game end. [We corrected
an error in Phase 28 in our last session by adding 2 more shock to
Obgfr. Hirsch's squad in the south woods that we forgot to apply from
their At The Double move into Close Combat.]
Phase 32 – German Roll
6,5,5,5,2 CoC Dice = 6 + 5
Next phase is Russian. Not the best
roll with only a 2 to work with. The Germans use it to move Hirsch's
squad to capture the JOP in the South. End Phase.
Phase 33 – Russian Roll
6,6,5,3,3 CoC Dice = 5
Next phase is Russian! One less move
for the Germans before game end! Kap. Muellerov uses a 3 to activate
Szt. Denisov who spends a CI to remove the shock and the other to
have his squad move At The Double toward the woods on the hill,
picking up a shock. Then he uses the last 3 to activate Szt. Pashin
on the hill to order his squad to shoot to at Fiedler's Rifle Team in
the woods. They take a whopping 4 shock with no KIA's. End phase.
Phase 34 – Russian Roll
5,4,4,3,1 CoC Dice = 6 Full!
Next Phase is German. Muellerov uses
a 3 to activate Szt. Denisov who uses a CI to remove the shock and
another to Tactical Move his squad into the woods. Then a 4 to
activate Lt. Vasilyev to order Pashin's squad to fire on Fiedler's
Rifle team again, pinning them with 4 more shock (now at 8) and 2
KIA, but missing Fiedler and Lt. Krause. They are very close to
breaking! End Phase. (no photo)
Phase 35 – German Roll
6,6,5,3,2 CoC Dice = 6 + 6 2 Full!
Next phase is German. With 2 turns in
a row, this is do or die for the Germans with the first roll for the
variable game ending beginning after Phase 36. Overhearing
Lowellinski's and Pollockstein's field command discussion, they
prefer trying to cause the Russian Force Morale to drop by 5 more to
win instead of trying for capture of the Fuel Dump. Their plan is to
try and bag Torchinovich's T-34, capture the 2 remaining JOPs, and
eliminate the AT Gun. A bold plan! So first, Hptm. Lowellinski uses
the 2 to activate Obgfr. Braun's squad in the crop to Move &
Fire. The squad advances to their right to get into LOS of the AT
Gun on the hill and fire at it with half-rate. The gun shield gives
the AT Gun crew hard cover, but despite that they suffer 1 KIA,
missing Vasilyev and are now down to 1 crewman! With the 3
Lowellinski next activates Wagner's PzIV, who spends 1 CI to remove
the shock and the second to order his driver to move Flat Out toward
the north end of the woods and he gets a big 15 inch move. End
Phase.
Phase 36 – German Roll
6,5,4,3,2 CoC Dice = 6 + 6 +1
Next phase is Russian. There will be a
2d6 roll at the end of this turn and if it is an 11 or 12, the game
ends! Lowelinski uses a 2 to activate Braun's squad in the crop to
fire on the AT gun at full rate. They get 2 KIA so the AT Gun is
wiped out! This drops the Russian Force Morale by 2 more down to 3!
The second KIA was heading for Lt.
Vasilyev, but the Commissar, Lt. Gorev, bravely jumps in front and
takes the fatal bullet meant for Vasilyev. What a patriot! No roll
was made for Force Morale. [There are 3
different versions of Commissar rules for nationalities and periods:
Winter War, Barbarossa, and Espana. Since there are none so far for
the 1943-1945 period I used the earlier Winter War rules where the
Russians were on the attack. The Barbarossa period was a desperate
defensive stand with more ruthless conditions. We assumed that the
Commissar is automatically eliminated without a die roll on the
Leader Effect Table since he must "sacrifice" himself
before the roll is done. Also with no indication of the consequence
after a Commissar sacrifices himself we did not roll on the Bad
Things Happen Table for his elimination]
Then Hptm.
Pollockstein uses the 3 to activate Fiedler who uses both CIs to
remove two shock from his Rifle Team (now 6). Lastly, Pollockstein
uses a 4 to activate Lt. Jaeger's command PzIV who uses his first CI
to radio Eichmann's PzIII to order his driver to reverse move back
into LOS of Pashin's squad on the hill.
Then with the AT
Gun threat gone, Lt. Jaeger spends the second CI to order his driver
to move Flat Out up the road, straight toward the fuel dump.
Jaeger spends his
third CI to radio Wagner's PzIV to order his driver to move Flat Out
to the woods near the Russian JOP. Wagner gets a big roll and has to
stop at the woods edge because woods are Broken Ground, which only
allows 2d6 moves.
This ends Phase
36 and triggers the first roll for the variable game ending. The
game will end on a 2d6 roll of 11 or 12. Hptm. Lowelinski rolls a
lowly 4 so the game moves on to Phase 37.
Phase 37 – Russian Roll
6,6,5,3,3 CoC Dice = 6 +1
Next Phase is
Russian! [Error: After the game I
discovered that with a Force Morale of 3 the Russian side's number of
Command Dice rolled should have been reduced by 2 down to 3.]
In a surprise
move, Hptm. Pollockstein plays a CoC dice to Interrupt the Russian
turn and activate Wagner's PzIV to move slowly forward, capture the
JOP, and fire with full effect at Szt. Torchinovich's T-34, now
within LOS and at point blank range. Lowelinski rolls a 12 on the To
Hit roll which is a critical hit! This adds 3 more strike dice for a
total of 11 and of these 5 are hits! Muellerov rolls the T-34s six
Armour dice and he gets zero saves for a net 5 hits! This knocks out
Torchinovich's T-34! We decide that his T-34 explodes without
rolling for that event since there were no troops nearby to be
affected. The roll on the Bad Things Happen Table yields a -2 so the
Russian Force Morale drops to 1!
Continuing the
Russian phase, Kap. Muellerov uses a 3 to activate Szt. Denisov to
move his squad to the Fuel Dump as a final protective defense. Then
he uses the last 3 to activate Szt. Pashin who uses his CI to order
his squad to Normal Move down the hill and assault Lt. Jaeger's PzIV
with the Molotovs they have. The squad rolls well on the move and
gets right to Jaeger's PzIV at the hedge.
Pashin's squad
tosses a Molotov onto the top of the PzIV, causing 3 strike hits. The
PzIV only rolls 1 armour save for a net 2 hits. This causes 2 shock
and because Petrol Bombs have all their shock doubled, this results
in 4 shock which causes Lt. Jaeger and his crew to abandon the PzIV!
They skulk off through the hedge coughing their lungs out.
There are now two
rolls to be made on the Bad Things Happen Table. [No
rules could be found for rolls on the Bad Things Happen Table for
crews of abandoned tanks so we played that
this equates to them being wiped out.]
First, for the abandoned PzIV a roll for a Support Team wiped out
which results in -2, and then a roll for Lt. Jaeger, a Senior Leader
wiped out which results in -3 for a net loss of -5, dropping the
German to a Force Morale of only 3! Force Morale is now German = 3
and Russian = 1. Close!
Kap. Muellerov is
about to end Phase 37, hoping for a 10 or more on the Variable Game
End roll to pull off a Russian win, but Hptm. Pollockstein plays the
second German CoC dice to end the Game Turn. This causes a roll on
the Bad Things Happen Table for the two Russian JOPs captured by the
Germans. One JOP roll is negated by Muellerov playing a Russian CoC
dice, but the loss of the second JOP must be rolled for resulting in
a -1 dropping the Russian Force Morale to zero, immediately forcing
them to withdraw from the battle! This suddenly ends the game in
favour of the German side who force the Russians to withdraw from the
field! The German second CoC dice play to end the Game Turn prevents
Muellerov from rolling to see if the game would end as a Russian win.
It doesn't get much closer than that! This is the table at Game
End.
Comments:
1. My reason for
recording and posting these AARs in such detail is twofold. First to
give other CoC gamers a sense of the game when described
blow-by-blow. Second, having to record and describe the action
requires me to learn the rules so it is a good way to do that.
Future AARs of CoC will be posted with much less detail, more of an
overview of the action with photos delivering most of the story.
2. Our wargaming
group has warmed to Chain of Command since our first game. I think
partly because this second game was a bigger game with a mixture of
armour and infantry. We seem to like larger games where the outcome
is less dependent on the survival of a single big support unit.
However, this makes for a longer game than I'd hoped for. We spent
about 6 hours on this game over three game sessions. I'm beginning
to think that we just play slow and we'll just have to accept that
our games will need at least two sessions. <grin>
3. For other CoC
players looking to try big games with lots of extra Support Teams
(say 20 - 40 List points), our experience is they lengthened the game
by maybe one-third because the same five Command Dice need to
activate so many more units. My "guess" to use 36 phases
before initiating a variable ending worked out just right, but that
is too long a game! I'd like to shorten the game to 25 - 30 phases.
For our future
'big" games we plan to add one extra coloured Command Die to the
usual number indicated. This die will act as usual on a roll from
one to four, providing the extra commands needed by the extra Support
Teams, speeding the game up to the same rate of play as for a regular
sized CoC game with normal List points. All fives that are rolled
will be disregarded, keeping the CoC dice action the same. The six
roll is interesting. If a six is rolled on a coloured die it will be
disregarded when considering Player Initiative, so the probability of
gaining initiative for each phase will stay the same. However, the
six will be included for the Random Event/Extra COC Die and probably
we'll also try including it for Turn Ends. Currently, rolling 4
sixes with 5 dice provides a Random Event with a probability of one
time in 303 rolls. With 6 dice it drops to once every 115 rolls. A
welcome improvement. Regarding Turn End probability, our last game
went 37 phases without rolling 3 sixes even once. The probability
that a random Turn End will happen is once every 28 rolls for 5 dice,
dropping to once every 15 rolls with 6 dice. Elite troops with 7
Command Dice would not count the coloured die for Turn End because
that would drop it too much, to once every 10 rolls. Personally I'd
like to try some big games with more random Game Turn Ends that show
up every 15 rolls on average in addition to CoC generated ones to see
how that works.
4. The good news
is that our group is interested to play more games of CoC. And for
future games since we are a self-contained group (do not play CoC
outside of our group) we are free to bolt on or change whatever rules
we wish, going beyond the core CoC game rules. Using our group
experiences from the last two games, and my half dozen solo games, we
now feel comfortable to test out some draft house rules that have
been percolating on the back burner. CoC has a good core set of
rules but is a bit fuzzy in areas. When at a fuzzy spot in a game
where discussion leads to "Play the period, not the rules,"
if you record the resulting conclusion it sometimes leads to a house
rule easily remembered for future games.
I'm sure there
will be more, but our current "hot" list of fuzzy spots
that we will be developing and testing house rules for are: Defensive
Fire, Forward Observers, LOS hindrances (hedge, wall, crop), Smoke
LOS, and Molotovs.
***
OK, it's time to
put the toys away for summer. These last games were played during
winter temperatures as low as -35 C with a wind chill of -50 C. Easy
to stay inside and hibernate with hobbies. Now it's melting outside
and I've just kicked the snow plug out of the cave entrance. Time to
soak up some rays, ride my motorbike, throw some beer in my little
sailboat, and swat mosquitoes around the BBQ. See you next fall!
Gary
